We recently hosted a webinar on Citrix Universal Subscription that covered all the basics – including how it works, benefits, and more. We received several great questions during the session that we have combined into some common themes below. Let’s do a quick recap of what we discussed and then dive into your questions.
Citrix Universal Subscription: What is it?
Citrix Universal Subscription provides a flexible licensing model that allows customers to use both IT-managed Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) and Citrix DaaS services throughout their subscription period.
Transitioning to Citrix Universal Subscription offers significant benefits even for customers running traditional on-premises CVAD deployments. By trading up from a CVAD perpetual license to Universal Subscription, users can unlock new capabilities, such as the new Web Studio on-prem, support for cloud-hosted workloads, and access to other cloud services like WEM, the ServiceNow adapter, Workspace service, and the Global App Config service. Citrix Universal Premium Plus customers also gain access to Citrix Analytics services as well.
With Universal Subscription, customers can deploy their Citrix environments in various ways, such as on-premises, public cloud, private cloud, or with Citrix DaaS cloud services, providing increased flexibility in deployment strategies. While many enterprise customers will still transition to the DaaS control plane over time, the Universal Subscription allows you to leverage both platforms for their unique strengths without having to make a disruptive choice.
Universal Subscription Webinar FAQs
Let’s look at some of the questions you had during the webinar and give you more insight into Universal Subscription.
Q: How does Citrix Universal differ from Citrix DaaS with Hybrid Rights?
Citrix Universal Subscription differs from Citrix DaaS with Hybrid Rights in terms of flexibility and deployment options. Citrix Universal allows organizations to use both IT-managed CVAD and Citrix DaaS cloud services for the duration of their subscription, without any restrictions on deployment methods or migration timelines. In contrast, Hybrid Rights offered a limited timeline for organizations to migrate to the cloud, and the focus was mainly on providing a transition path for existing on-premises customers to Citrix DaaS cloud services.
Q: With Citrix Universal, is it required to run on Current Release (CR) or is there an option to run Long Term Service Release (LTSR)?
Citrix Universal Subscription encompasses Citrix Cloud, CR and LTSR releases. This can be beneficial for organizations with diverse requirements and use cases. By using a combination of platforms, organizations can maintain a stable core infrastructure while deploying innovative features for specific projects or departments. Ultimately, the decision to mix release types should be based on the organization’s unique needs, infrastructure, and compliance obligations, and Universal gives you flexibility as needed.
Q: What features are included in the Citrix Universal Subscription?
Citrix Universal editions are inclusive of both Citrix DaaS cloud editions and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops on-premises editions. In cases where the Citrix DaaS edition includes more functionality than the associated CVAD edition, the bigger feature set is activated.
- Citrix Universal Advanced includes Citrix DaaS Advanced and Citrix Virtual Apps Advanced
- Citrix Universal Advanced Plus includes Citrix DaaS Advanced Plus and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Advanced
- Citrix Universal Premium includes Citrix DaaS Premium and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Premium
- Citrix Universal Premium Plus includes Citrix DaaS Premium Plus and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Premium
For more information on the specifics of each Citrix DaaS and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops edition, please visit the feature matrix.
Q: Why are there multiple editions of Citrix Universal?
Similar to our CVAD and DaaS editions, having multiple editions makes it easy for existing customers who are interested in maintaining the same feature set to transition to Citrix Universal. Citrix DaaS and Universal subscriptions offer deployment flexibility that caters to different organizational needs, while the editions for each of those subscriptions focus on included capabilities, features, and functional requirements.
By offering multiple editions and deployment options, Citrix ensures that organizations can choose solutions that best fit their unique use cases and requirements.
Q: How are Citrix Universal licenses allocated if users consume resources from both on-premises and cloud environments?
With Citrix Universal Subscription, a single user may access both your on-premises CVAD and DaaS environment. For the purposes of compliance, the same user accessing both environments is considered to consume a single license.
Q: What licensing models are supported with Citrix Universal?
Citrix Universal supports both User/Device (UD) and Concurrent (CU) for DaaS and CVAD deployments.
Q: What is the Product Lifecycle for Citrix Universal?
Citrix Universal follows the same Product Lifecycle as Citrix DaaS and CVAD. Please refer to the Product Matrix page for the latest lifecycle dates.
Q: What are the quantity limits for Citrix Universal?
Citrix’s Universal offering has a minimum initial order quantity of 250, which applies to new subscriptions. However, existing DaaS and DaaS + Hybrid Rights subscriptions can continue to expand, renew, or transition to Universal at any quantity. Customers who have existing DaaS offerings can still access all available add-ons, which are also available for Universal Subscription SKUs.
Q: How is licensing managed with Citrix Universal? What has changed?
The mechanics of licensing function the same as with Citrix DaaS + Hybrid Rights. Citrix Universal includes both Citrix DaaS entitlements and IT-managed CVAD entitlements. CVAD usage is managed through the on-premises license server; cloud service usage is managed through Citrix Cloud.
Q: How do I move from IT-managed Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops to Universal Subscription?
Citrix offers a Transition and Trade-up (TTU) program specifically to help customers with traditional perpetual licenses make the move to Universal Subscription. Your partner or Citrix sales rep can help you navigate your options.
Q: What is the process for dividing 1,000 Universal Subscription licenses to use 500 in on-premises deployments and 500 in the cloud?
Citrix Universal allows the same license in both your IT-managed/on-premises deployments and cloud environments as long as they are serving the same user group. If you have 1,000 users in your company, and you wish to provide them desktops from Citrix DaaS services as well as a set of on-prem apps from the CVAD LTSR, your 1,000 licenses will cover both scenarios, with no need to allocate between the environments. Operationally, DaaS cloud services will be entitled automatically inside Citrix Cloud, and you’ll download license files for your IT-managed Citrix License Server as usual.
Q: Is Universal Subscription the only offering from Citrix now?
We continue to sell Virtual Apps and Desktops subscriptions, DaaS subscriptions, and more. However, for customers modernizing an on-premises perpetual deployment, Citrix Universal is the sole offering available for Transition and Trade-up (TTU) which gives you credit for your existing perpetual CVAD licenses.
Q: What Analytics features are available to Universal customers?
Citrix Analytics is included with the Universal Premium Plus subscription or is available as an add-on to other Citrix Universal Packages. This package provides admins with advanced security and performance analytics, enabling organizations to secure their IT environment and maintain optimal user experience. With actionable insights from real-time and historical data, organizations can make informed decisions and optimize resources. Seamless integration with other Citrix solutions helps organizations optimize their IT environment and drive better business outcomes.
Q: With the inception of the Universal Subscription license model, can we expect any modifications to the Concurrent and User/Device license types?
Citrix Universal supports both U/D and Concurrent license types. No changes are planned.
Q: Is a Universal Subscription available for CSPs?
Currently, Universal Subscription is not available for CSPs (Citrix Service Providers). However, we are working closely with our CSP partners to identify the right solutions for their business models, ensuring they have access to the most suitable licensing options for their needs.
That wraps up the top questions we received from the Universal Subscription webinar! If you missed it, watch it on-demand or learn more about Universal Subscription here.
